Episode #15: Afro-Colombian Cartoonist & Illustrator Arantza Peña Popo

Episode Summary:

In this episode, I speak with Afro-Colombian cartoonist and illustrator Arantza Peña Popo. Arantza is an Ignatz Award Nominated artist who explores slice-of-life narratives through her comic artwork. She’s created comics for publications such as The New Yorker, Title Slides for Cartoon Network, and editorial illustrations for Refinery29. Keep on listening to hear her discuss her experience being Afro-Colombian, how she got into autobiographical comics, and how she won a Google Doodle contest.

Episode Notes:

This week’s guest grew up drawing book covers and joining competitive reading bowls just for fun! In this episode, I chat with Afro-Colombian cartoonist and illustrator Arantza Peña Popo who’s created comics for publications such as The New Yorker, title slides for Cartoon Network, and editorial illustrations for Refinery29. Arantza and I talk about how people question her existence as an Afro-Colombiana, the persistent conflict between her American and Colombian culture, and how she found her passion for autobiographical comics.

Arantza immigrated from Colombia with her mother as a refugee and landed in Clarkston, Georgia before moving to Stone Mountain, Georgia. Arantza grew up in a diverse community but struggled with the isolation of her identity as an Afro-Latina. These days, she is reconnecting with her Colombian culture through Salsa music, even if that means her mom is technically “winning.”

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Topics Covered:

1. How her family immigrated to the US from Colombia

2. Growing up in an immigrant and refugee community

3. Growing up bookish and drawing book covers for fun

4. Participating in the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl

5. How people question her existence as an Afro-Colombiana

6. The struggle to identify with the larger Latinx community

7. The strife between her American and Colombian culture

8. How she got into making comics after being introduced to more complex comics

9. Her recent solo show “The World is Looking For You” at Junior High LA

10. How Risograph printing translates the digital into analog

11. Feeling conflicted about fine art and comics culture

12. How she let go of the “elite academic white gaze” for her work

13. Navigating oversharing in her own autobiographical comics

14. Winning the Doodle for Google competition in 2019

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

• One for the money by Janet Evanovich

• Smile by Raina Telgemeier

• Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol

• This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki

• Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

Other Links:

• Junior High by Faye Orlove

• Oblivion by Grimes

• Tiny Splendor Risograph Printing

Guest Info

• Check out Arantza'’s Instagram and Portfolio!

Special Offer

• Listeners of the podcast can get a free, undated weekly and monthly planner inspired by the show from our website here.

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Episode Transcript (auto-generated):

00;00;10;02 - 00;00;36;24

Fabiola Lara

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Draws in Spanish. This is a podcast that showcases the creative journey of notable LA and X visual artists and designers. I'm your host, Chilean American illustrator Fabiola Lara. If you're interested in everything that has to do with Latin American artists, culture and identity, then please consider hitting subscribe because that's what I aim to cover with every episode of the show.

00;00;37;09 - 00;01;10;29

Fabiola Lara

Okay. Back to today's show today. Have Arantza Pena Popo on the show. Arantza is an IG that's award nominated Colombian artist based in L.A. who explores slice of life narratives through her comic artwork. She's created comics for publications such as The New Yorker title sites for Cartoon Network and editorial illustrations for Refinery29. Keep on listening to hear us discuss her experience being Afro Colombiana how she got into comics in the first place, and how she ended up creating a Google Doodle.

00;01;11;09 - 00;01;12;25

Fabiola Lara

Now let's get into today's show.

00;01;18;09 - 00;01;27;04

Fabiola Lara

Hello and welcome to Draws in Spanish. I am so excited that you're here that you agree to be with me here today. How are you doing? What's going on?

00;01;27;13 - 00;01;37;12

Arantza Peña Popo

I'm doing good. It's been a hectic week because I'm also a student in college, so it's it's kind of like having to balance all of that. Overall, I'm doing chill.

00;01;37;19 - 00;01;46;21

Fabiola Lara

All right. So before I start asking you a million questions about yourselves. Can you give us a little intro? Introduce yourself to the listeners.

00;01;46;24 - 00;02;12;13

Arantza Peña Popo

So I'm an entrepreneur before. I am a comic artist and illustrator born in Colombia, but then raised in Atlanta. But based out of Los Angeles, California. And I make reads and comics and illustrations kind of surrounding a lot of things. But usually it kind of touches on queerness. Mental illness that's kind of like eerie, kind of spooky, kind of just abstract figures and also just about kind of different things.

00;02;12;13 - 00;02;22;03

Arantza Peña Popo

I feel like it's kind of like shifted at least more recently, at least the topics I talk about. But yeah, this like jeans that I like make myself or like I print with like a reso graph.

00;02;22;03 - 00;02;30;03

Fabiola Lara

I love it. Tell me about your upbringing in Atlanta. I know you said you were born in Colombia. So my first question is like, how did you get to Atlanta?

00;02;30;12 - 00;02;54;12

Arantza Peña Popo

Yes. So what happened was at least in Colombia, you know, there's like Beaufort, which is like domestic terrorist group. And there is like a lot of just kind of like conflict within the area where I was living in. So kind of like Cali. Cali, which is like a major city. But then also like something the child, which is like in the valley, kind of in the, I guess, western valley of Colombia.

00;02;54;14 - 00;03;10;29

Arantza Peña Popo

And so, yeah, there's kind of a lot of conflict there. So me and my family, or at least like me and my mother, she went to Costa Rica first, kind of just like working there. And like getting enough money. And then some cousin took me and my sister to Costa Rica and then we like stayed in Costa Rica for I think about a year.

00;03;11;07 - 00;03;14;17

Arantza Peña Popo

And I just remember, like playing with pigeons and like going to the.

00;03;14;17 - 00;03;15;17

Fabiola Lara

In the jungle. Yeah.

00;03;16;19 - 00;03;37;15

Arantza Peña Popo

So afterwards then we like practically we were like refugees. We kind of like sought refuge in in states like this company or like, I guess like nonprofit. Kind of relocated us to Atlanta. And I did I was like really young. But I just remember, like being in like Clarkston, Georgia, which is like kind of a sanctuary city. It's like one of the most ethnically diverse like cities in United States because of that.

00;03;37;26 - 00;03;48;15

Arantza Peña Popo

And I remember also, just like the Salvation Army, like helping us get furniture and toys, even though they were probably like awful people. But at least, like, for that part of my life, like, they were good.

00;03;48;16 - 00;03;50;03

Fabiola Lara

How old were you around then?

00;03;50;10 - 00;03;52;19

Arantza Peña Popo

I was around three years old.

00;03;52;22 - 00;03;55;14

Fabiola Lara

So you mostly grew up in the U.S., I take it?

00;03;55;21 - 00;03;56;20

Arantza Peña Popo

Yeah, definitely.

00;03;56;24 - 00;04;03;20

Fabiola Lara

And how was it like growing up, being a refugee, being Afro Latina there?

00;04;04;02 - 00;04;29;01

Arantza Peña Popo

I think we spent about like a few years of my youth in Clarkston, at least what I remember, I think it was like very simple and accepted because we were in this kind of like immigrant community. Like we were in these kind of apartments where a lot of like other immigrants or like refugees were living in. And so very much like a kind of like blend I remember like staying with a Russian family when my mom wasn't there, mom was there was like stay with those Russian families.

00;04;29;02 - 00;04;48;25

Arantza Peña Popo

I just remember, like being with this Russian family eating red cake. Like, it's like one of my core memories. I just, like, unlock. And I remember also just like seeing what those like West African family, I think at least in like Clarks. And it was very simple. I'm not sure also because like, it's just like I was so young and I wasn't thinking about like I didn't understand the racial dynamics.

00;04;48;25 - 00;05;05;16

Arantza Peña Popo

Yeah. You know, I was like just playing with toys and making sure that the neighborhood boys weren't like, you know, like bullying me. I remember one time my mom like Chase, like the guys like these, like, because these boys, like, kept, like, teasing me and, like, throwing rocks at me. So she brought this, like, cuz, like, log and this, like, threatened them with it.

00;05;07;06 - 00;05;20;11

Fabiola Lara

Just like, that is enough that as bad as I like that. And then you moved to Atlanta. What was it like in Atlanta once you moved away from kind of that sanctuary city atmosphere.

00;05;20;24 - 00;05;44;03

Arantza Peña Popo

So to clarify, like I say, Atlanta, because like the city people know, but I moved to Stone Mountain, Georgia, and I remember like moving to summer and I think like maybe fourth grade, we have like moved to another house at that point, but then we moved to like another house in summer. And I guess like that's more at least what I remember of how influenced me like artistically but we were like, you know, like growing up and somehow and it was just like suburbia.

00;05;44;13 - 00;05;55;04

Arantza Peña Popo

I went to this school outside of summer out in those states, which is kind of like the more like more like kind of white uppity, kind of like neighborhood, but it's like still on the brink.

00;05;55;27 - 00;05;59;28

Fabiola Lara

That's exactly where you want to go. Yeah, I see what you're saying happened to me, too.

00;06;00;03 - 00;06;09;18

Arantza Peña Popo

But also, like on the brink of like, Clark, because I was on seats in class and I would be like right next to each others. I was going to this like, I be school. So like International Baccalaureate.

00;06;09;18 - 00;06;11;03

Fabiola Lara

School I also did that.

00;06;11;04 - 00;06;11;19

Arantza Peña Popo

Oh, yeah.

00;06;11;26 - 00;06;19;22

Fabiola Lara

I also did that. I love it. Okay. I actually the last person I spoke to also did I be there's a lot of these Ivy artists coming out. Yeah.

00;06;19;24 - 00;06;22;02

Arantza Peña Popo

Oh, it's like a pattern. It's like a complex.

00;06;22;02 - 00;06;23;28

Fabiola Lara

It's like, we all have to leave. Yeah. Okay.

00;06;24;18 - 00;06;39;13

Arantza Peña Popo

And so it's just like, I was, like, in, like, a school like this, like, a lot of immigrant kids and, like, also just like, a lot of low income kids. I remember, like, my mom worked. My mom's a maintenance technician. And so she worked at these apartments literally two blocks away from high school. That's why she took me there.

00;06;39;23 - 00;07;09;11

Arantza Peña Popo

And I know I think the apartments were like it was like a very interesting thing because after school, practically, like, I couldn't just, like, go all the way home. It's like so much in Georgia. So I would, like, be staying at the school in these apartments. There was like this little like at the school counseling program where I would just, like, stay with one of like the moms of like one of my friends and that was like a really interesting atmosphere because like a bunch of kids being silly and being really weird when heard, it's like telling us a bunch of stuff and also sometimes cursing because you had like no filter.

00;07;10;01 - 00;07;26;15

Arantza Peña Popo

And I remember very distinctly one time she lent me this book and I was like fifth grade and she lent me this book, you know, that like series it's by like Janet Evanovich, and it's called I think it's called The One for the Money. And it's about like this like woman who becomes like a bounty hunter or something.

00;07;26;24 - 00;07;30;06

Fabiola Lara

I am not familiar with it, but the sound is intense.

00;07;31;05 - 00;07;55;13

Arantza Peña Popo

Yeah. I don't know. She's like, I think like a Bill Hunter, someone just like some people who haven't paid Bill. And I remember she, like, sent me like I think like the ninth installment of the series, and I was just like a fifth grader and I was just, like, reading about I was like, oh, dehydrated. Yeah. So, like, this woman like, having sex and, like, going to the sex shop and, like, I remember, like, reading, and I was like, what the dildo like is just.

00;07;56;04 - 00;08;00;28

Fabiola Lara

Like, looking at the dictionary at school, like, what is the where is it?

00;08;02;09 - 00;08;21;26

Arantza Peña Popo

So, yeah, and that was also the place where, like, we were just, like, draw law and watch videos. And I remember like also saying, what? Like this Puerto Rican friend, we had a phrase, and I would just, like, be in her house reading or just or like, I would be drawing and, like, writing stories. While, like, Castle Tirado was like playing in the background.

00;08;22;19 - 00;08;29;01

Fabiola Lara

There's been some gossip, like tick tock audios happening, and I'm just like, I love castles that are.

00;08;29;01 - 00;08;29;23

Arantza Peña Popo

So.

00;08;31;25 - 00;08;35;24

Fabiola Lara

Tell me about kind of like a creative moment in your youth.

00;08;35;25 - 00;08;59;10

Arantza Peña Popo

I was when I was a kid, when I was like really young, at least like elementary school. I was a very, like, bookish kid. I love books, and I read a lot, not like I do right now. And I remember working on practically like I would like I want to be an author practically. So I wanted to write books that was like I would be so many books and I would probably just, like, make these stories.

00;08;59;10 - 00;09;11;04

Arantza Peña Popo

I could make characters I would make like I remember like just making like an entire line of book covers and just like drawing the book covers, but having like no, like actual like book attached to them. Like, there's like no right is.

00;09;11;04 - 00;09;15;16

Fabiola Lara

Just the cover. I look like I'm making covers all day.

00;09;15;16 - 00;09;19;29

Arantza Peña Popo

Like, exactly like this manifest thing of the book will like, hopefully call it Who Cares?

00;09;19;29 - 00;09;37;14

Fabiola Lara

Yeah, it'll you get the picture from the book, from the cover, so it's fine. You know, conceptually, you had it there even if you didn't write the book itself. I love that. So was your mom always supportive of these creative adventures that you were doing, all these little creative projects? What was the dynamic there?

00;09;38;01 - 00;10;00;26

Arantza Peña Popo

Yeah, and so I remember like early on because I would just be drawing a lot. I don't, just don't know how to start it. But remember, like this being young and she said, I started drawing like three years old. So I just like take her word for it at least. And beginning like I remember like looking at like a Toys R US catalog and there being like this huge set of like markers and paints, which then like the art world, they're like the lowest quality ever.

00;10;00;26 - 00;10;04;16

Arantza Peña Popo

But to me, I was like, oh my God, like this.

00;10;04;16 - 00;10;06;27

Fabiola Lara

It's crazy what I could do with this.

00;10;06;28 - 00;10;07;26

Arantza Peña Popo

Exactly.

00;10;09;26 - 00;10;26;22

Arantza Peña Popo

And so then I remember her buying me that was, I think was like really cool because it's probably like a lot of money at that time. And then she, like, let me go to things like art classes kind of like it was like. And analysts say it's like kind of like the like the really nice part of, like, L.A., I think I think was like East L.A..

00;10;27;03 - 00;10;40;22

Arantza Peña Popo

I remember like being in it's like a church basement being taught by this British woman about like drawing. And, you know, I was just like like a little like Southern kid. So like meeting a British woman was like really exciting to me. I was like, oh, my gosh, she's British.

00;10;40;25 - 00;10;44;13

Fabiola Lara

Yeah, this is not TV. This is in real life. There are British people.

00;10;44;24 - 00;10;45;17

Arantza Peña Popo

Exactly.

00;10;45;22 - 00;10;47;01

Fabiola Lara

And what did you learn there?

00;10;47;07 - 00;11;10;20

Arantza Peña Popo

I remember like first when we first met, we made like this entire, like, value charts. I was just like making, like, values and like learning about values and learning about, like, different, like, pencil you know, like weights and like kind of a darkness before be making like a square and like the circle basics. You have a basic learning portraiture, like, you know, like with a little like lines and you're like the eyes.

00;11;10;20 - 00;11;28;27

Fabiola Lara

And I'm so glad that your mom put you there, that she nurtured that, right? Like she went out of her way to get you there. And I know now that you're you're young, but you're super accomplished. Did you have any artistic achievements in, like, grade school? Right. Like, I'm pretty sure you had them in high school, but I want to see if we had any earlier than that.

00;11;29;08 - 00;12;05;14

Arantza Peña Popo

So I was part of this, like, club club, like the Helen Rough in the Reading Bowl. It's like I know. I feel like there should be like a podcast about that because it's like really intense. Like, practically, like every year these kids in Georgia, every school in Georgia, they have their own team and kids will like read like 20 or like a range of like 20 books and then you like go all the schools go to compete and like practically your question about the knowledge of these books and like super hardcore, like I was in Helena for reading for about like maybe like a good like eight years.

00;12;05;16 - 00;12;06;17

Arantza Peña Popo

Wow.

00;12;06;22 - 00;12;08;29

Fabiola Lara

So when you say you love reading, you mean.

00;12;09;10 - 00;12;34;19

Arantza Peña Popo

I was like really intensely into books. I remember designing like a shirt for it and I designed a shirt for this other club, featured business leaders of America. I was just in there for the free food and I designed a shirt for them. And that was like the first thing of like being like oh, like I've got this, like, design on me and it's like made by me, even though like some other adult, like, very much, like, refined it.

00;12;34;19 - 00;13;00;03

Fabiola Lara

I love that, though. I feel like those little things really kind of, like, unlock possibilities. When you're young, you're just like, wait a minute. You can actually have some sort of impact here. It's not just like coming down from like, I don't know, Toys R US or, you know, like there's somebody making things and putting them on shirts that I'm buying and that could be me and I think those first instances of that, I always have like a lot of impact.

00;13;00;08 - 00;13;07;02

Fabiola Lara

One of the things I want to talk to you about is how you experience being Afro-Latina essentially in the U.S..

00;13;07;09 - 00;13;29;21

Arantza Peña Popo

I mean, like when you grow up, people just like, saw you as like black practically. Like, it would have to be like disclosed information like that. I was Afro-Latina. I remember like being in, like, elementary school and practically just like being like in a room with my teachers and being like, oh, yeah, I speak Spanish. And they're like, Oh, my God.

00;13;29;22 - 00;13;53;00

Arantza Peña Popo

So it was always just kind of like a weird thing because it's like growing up, people, you know, since, like, we're like so underrepresented when you do, like, kind of disclose that information, people will like you and be like, oh, my gosh. Like, they're very confused on the dynamics of, like, how a black person can exist, like, either outside of, like, the continent of Africa or like, outside of the United States.

00;13;53;13 - 00;14;16;05

Arantza Peña Popo

And so because I also grew up like around a lot of black people, so at least like the black people would just kind of be like they're just like really interested and kind of like questioning being like, how did this happen? Because when they also thought I was Afro-Latino, they thought that meant that I had like a black American parent and then a white Latino parent because they always associated like the need that was whiteness.

00;14;16;05 - 00;14;20;00

Arantza Peña Popo

So they always thought there was like some kind of whiteness involved. That's so.

00;14;20;08 - 00;14;25;08

Fabiola Lara

Tough. Can you tell us what your heritage is? Can you explain it for the listeners?

00;14;25;08 - 00;14;54;06

Arantza Peña Popo

I Afro-Colombian which means like my entire lineage is like some like African descent. Sometimes the way I explain to people is like, oh, yeah, like the like how black people came to the United States to slavery within the same. And so yeah. And so my entire family is black. There's like, you know, of course, like with any kind of like kind of murky racial politics in South America, you know, there's like been blending like, of course, it's like kind of like white people or indigenous people kind of like in the mix.

00;14;54;06 - 00;15;01;27

Arantza Peña Popo

But I'm mostly just like a black person coming from people like generations of black people who grew up in Colombia.

00;15;02;08 - 00;15;24;06

Fabiola Lara

I feel like people in the U.S. forget that there is white people in Latin America, right? They assume that all people from Latin America are not white. And then similarly, they think that all people in Latin America are probably not black. And it's hard for them to open their eyes to the reality of racial diversity, that just because you're from Latin America, doesn't mean you are one or the other.

00;15;24;06 - 00;15;45;16

Fabiola Lara

Right. So I'm I'm excited to have you talk about this because I think it's an important thing to talk about in Latin America. It's like overlooked because I think in the media here in the U.S., it's just perceived as like my go to example, like Sofia Vergara, who is Colombian. Did you ever feel like you didn't fit in with black people in the U.S. or was Latin American people in the U.S.?

00;15;45;17 - 00;15;48;12

Fabiola Lara

Did you ever struggle with that like cultural clash?

00;15;49;08 - 00;16;04;03

Arantza Peña Popo

Yeah, I feel like it was like with black people because like I just appeared black. Then there was like no kind of like there was no dissonance. I remember like a teacher asked me, like, if you were like in front of you tables, and one of them had like Hispanic kids one of them in black kids, like, what would you go towards?

00;16;04;11 - 00;16;27;22

Arantza Peña Popo

And I said, the black kids, because, you know, like, I look black. And so there is no ending, kind of like kind of tension in the air, like even though, you know, they were like really silly questions about like, you know, maybe having a white parent or like how like, you know, my Colombian this like transpired you know, it was ever kind of like the more uncomfortability I felt like and like majority like white Hispanic spaces.

00;16;28;01 - 00;17;03;01

Arantza Peña Popo

For most of my childhood, it was like really chill until like I kind of like realized like the way that, like, white people will look at you like white, white, Hispanic people would look at you like going into a restaurant or like it seems like sometimes they have to, like, build up like more sense of like, like authority Latina that when you go into spaces like, for example, like one thing that my entire family hates that it's like a very like recurring pattern here, especially in L.A. It's like practically like let's say you go to like a store or like, you know, like an ice cream shop and you like speak to the person in Spanish

00;17;03;01 - 00;17;14;14

Arantza Peña Popo

It's clearly like Latinos been speaking Spanish to everyone else around them and they speak English back to you. Like when you speak Spanish and you like you will like speak like you will feel like we are.

00;17;14;14 - 00;17;17;29

Fabiola Lara

Going hard on the Spanish and they still keep you with the.

00;17;18;00 - 00;17;31;03

Arantza Peña Popo

English. Yes. Over those. And it's like it pisses us house like we don't even do anything, but it like pisses you all so much because they're like, okay, I like you to sing. I'm like practicing like my like AP Spanish homework on you like.

00;17;31;04 - 00;17;45;20

Fabiola Lara

Yeah, they're just dismissing the cultural context, essentially. They're just like, no, you're gringo and you're just performing it to me. You're the first Colombian I've had here on the podcast since Encanto came out.

00;17;49;04 - 00;17;50;08

Arantza Peña Popo

Do you have any.

00;17;50;25 - 00;17;56;00

Fabiola Lara

Hot Takes opinions on Encanto? Do you love it? Do you hate it? Where are you at?

00;17;56;05 - 00;18;02;10

Arantza Peña Popo

I like you really wish like I had one because no, like we were going to watch it when I went back to Georgia. Oh, my gosh.

00;18;02;10 - 00;18;03;11

Fabiola Lara

She has a watch.

00;18;03;13 - 00;18;31;12

Arantza Peña Popo

No. And I've had so many like lately. My school had like a screening with the directors and everything. But I like at least like looking at the trailer or like I like going to the luminaries of like at least like a landscape and everything and like, it's really spot on. I think the buzz in the movie, which is also very flawed, I, I think in terms of like, maybe like, like racially I do wish I saw like more like black people just because like, you know, Columbia is like, the.

00;18;31;12 - 00;18;49;05

Fabiola Lara

Second thing is a primary. They have some black people I think does like the atmospheric characters almost you know what I mean? But I don't know how many are I can't remember right now how many are, if any, primary characters, which is annoying. But I heard that they might expand the world so there could be some improvements made.

00;18;49;14 - 00;18;57;15

Fabiola Lara

How do you feel you stay connected, if at all, with your, like, Colombian heritage now that you've been in the U.S. so long?

00;18;57;23 - 00;19;08;16

Arantza Peña Popo

So I think like it was always a weird dynamic, mostly because I think like because I just grew up like, you know, America and like I grew up watching Full House and The Nanny and.

00;19;08;28 - 00;19;09;17

Fabiola Lara

Me, too.

00;19;10;15 - 00;19;30;02

Arantza Peña Popo

Exactly. Yeah. Like, makes it harder to, like, have any kind of like or like to cling on to that when there's like, no, like, cultural capital you kind of like have and so, you know, like in terms of then like kind of then growing up, there was always like a strife between, like, me and my mother. Then because, like, I didn't know how to cook certain foods.

00;19;30;02 - 00;19;47;06

Arantza Peña Popo

My rice has always been like super soggy. I can't insults, like, I can't answer that to save my life inside. So I was like, I'm from Cali, which is like the capital side sides, like the lifeblood of the city. Like it's how you meet your partner I was created inside.

00;19;47;06 - 00;19;50;17

Fabiola Lara

So you're outside so baby.

00;19;50;26 - 00;19;51;07

Arantza Peña Popo

And you.

00;19;51;07 - 00;20;00;04

Fabiola Lara

Can't dance. All of that has to weigh on you but how do you feel you've managed, if at all, to stay somewhat connected?

00;20;00;18 - 00;20;19;17

Arantza Peña Popo

I think the ways I like to stay connected, I think it was like my freshman year in college. I was like, oh, maybe I should like because I was in the like history of jazz dance class. And I remember like seeing like a lot of people just like probably like like dancer all my kind of cultural people would, like display their own cultural dances and like traditions.

00;20;19;17 - 00;20;39;09

Arantza Peña Popo

And I remember being like, oh my gosh, like, I should probably embrace my Colombian list a lot more I remember just like now I try to, like, listen to more, like, salsa music casually. Like, I'm still like, it's still like a weird thing because if I listen to all sorts of music, then I'm like, oh my gosh, if my mom knew this, she's like winning.

00;20;39;09 - 00;20;55;05

Arantza Peña Popo

Like, I don't know. Like, she's like winning. Like, she can't give this to her. I had to get, though, so she has no idea. Listen, salsa music, like, on the side, like, and it's also so weird when I use like and I've questioned that too of like, why is a term like winning? Because and like, if not, then you're.

00;20;55;05 - 00;20;56;21

Fabiola Lara

Both winning technically, right?

00;20;56;22 - 00;21;03;18

Arantza Peña Popo

Yeah. And like what two sides are battling that this has to be one that like wins. Like, is it like American versus Colombian?

00;21;03;18 - 00;21;26;12

Fabiola Lara

Like, I think it's as someone who is similar to you, I came here as a baby, so I have like very it's very hard for me to feel connected to to Chile. And culture being that I grew up super Americanized. But my mom and so I'm speaking for myself because I can maybe see this and you was always trying to impart like Chilean culture and be like, this is what's cool in Chile.

00;21;26;12 - 00;21;55;05

Fabiola Lara

This is what's up in Chile. And I'm like, mom, who cares? Like, literally no one even knows where that is. And so I feel like maybe by you appreciating Colombian culture, it's saying like, yeah, mom, you were right. Like, there is value there and maybe you should have accepted it earlier. But I feel like something cool about Colombia is you have a lot of mainstream representation in terms of like artists coming from Colombia, like as a Chilean person, like not once did I see like a Chilean person doing anything in the States.

00;21;55;12 - 00;22;02;10

Fabiola Lara

But you had you had Shakira. She's pretty busy. Is did you ever recognize that growing up?

00;22;02;22 - 00;22;23;19

Arantza Peña Popo

Yeah, I did. Like, recognize it, especially, like I think Shakira was very big over here. And so I think, like, when I was young, I did recognize that. But I think there's also just like to me, I was I was like, okay, all these are like white people. So I was also kind of like, oh, I like, you know, I mean, they're cool and stuff.

00;22;23;19 - 00;22;41;11

Arantza Peña Popo

And, you know, my grandma would kind of joke about sit here and be like, oh, like, look at that little yellow butterfly, because, like, yellow is like what we call, like, white people in Colombia, like Merida. So I think there is like, at least like in terms of that point, like, it was like, oh, like just like there's Colombians here, like doing like to be full time.

00;22;41;11 - 00;22;46;04

Arantza Peña Popo

But then like after that and then I was like, but you're white either way. So for sure.

00;22;46;04 - 00;23;09;10

Fabiola Lara

For sure. But I just remember, like being in school and being like, nobody had any reference point for Chile, but I would imagine that you had like Colombia, like Shakira, like, even though obviously like extremely palatable Colombian person, very marketable in the US, especially and in Latin America in general. How did you first get into comics and cartooning were pivoting back to your artwork?

00;23;09;28 - 00;23;38;03

Arantza Peña Popo

I was introduced to comics first in middle school. It was a very interesting dynamic because growing up since I was so like into books and like novels, I like looked down upon comics. Like I remember my friends. Like there is this everyone in middle school remembers reading Smile by Raina Tyler, my Tell My Girl like that was like be like graphic novel that like everyone had on their hands because it was always on like the scholastic book fairs.

00;23;38;03 - 00;23;45;17

Arantza Peña Popo

And so that I remember just like looking back at that and like kind of like, you know, raising my nose would be like if I read real books, like, you know, not.

00;23;45;25 - 00;23;47;05

Fabiola Lara

Intellectual or.

00;23;47;16 - 00;23;49;23

Arantza Peña Popo

I, you know, I'm reading The Hunger Games, like.

00;23;53;20 - 00;23;56;04

Fabiola Lara

Yes. Yes. Yeah, above it.

00;23;56;14 - 00;24;16;00

Arantza Peña Popo

Exactly. But then I think and say no, which is really weird. Too, because I was like reading art at the time, but I also was like more into like, fine art, like, you know, like the very kind of like basic bean bingo. Oh, Nada Vinci. I think the one book that helped in, like, shifting the way that I like viewed comics was honest goes by.

00;24;16;00 - 00;24;35;07

Arantza Peña Popo

They're a broad school. I remember like, I borrowed it from, like, my friend Morrie, and I remember, like, reading it, and I remember, like, it was like such a like it was like a very because like, I think the stories about like this, like, girl who like, practically, like, friends is like girls. That was like in a well, but like a lot of it was also just like her own insecurities.

00;24;35;07 - 00;24;57;28

Arantza Peña Popo

Just like this. Like, young girl, like her, like weight and her looks and like you know, like her popularity in school. And since, you know, was middle school, all of that was being negotiated, unfortunately. And so I think I really resonated with that story, and I was like, whoa, like, comics can be, like, personal and like, you know, like, tell these, like, intriguing layered story.

00;24;57;28 - 00;24;58;14

Fabiola Lara

Stories.

00;24;58;14 - 00;25;16;23

Arantza Peña Popo

Yeah, exactly. And then so from that, I just started reading graphic novels, you know, just like Raina Telomere. Jillian Tamaki was like a big one for me. I got to speak with her once this and she was like, really chill to talk to you. And she had a cat.

00;25;17;07 - 00;25;20;06

Fabiola Lara

Shut out. Shut out. Jillian Tamaki will send her this episode.

00;25;20;06 - 00;25;39;16

Arantza Peña Popo

I think she's the one who like to help me, at least in terms of her own artwork. Like, I remember like, I think I remember, like, first thing I remember stumbling into this one summer and skim, and I didn't know that, like, so graphic novels to be so detailed, but I thought, you know, you got to, like, make simplified, like, cartoon figures within her stuff.

00;25;39;16 - 00;25;53;18

Arantza Peña Popo

It's like very intricate and like, elaborate and I was like, well, like, I can make, like, realistic, like, looking people. I then know, like, it's like weird because it's like, along the way, you kind of find like, you have permission to do things it's it's super weird.

00;25;53;18 - 00;26;13;02

Fabiola Lara

I think it's because comics sometimes are just in your head. You first think of like, Marvel and DC, and so then if you have that's, I guess like a stereotype of comic, then you feel like that's what it is and you can't deviate. So when you start seeing like other artists that are doing their own thing and doing something like that, you would want to do, it's just like eye opening.

00;26;13;16 - 00;26;34;23

Arantza Peña Popo

Exactly. Yeah. And I think like and I think that was like a good point too, because I remember like I never really like Marvel Comics because I've seen like the art and I didn't like superhero comics. And so it's just very much like from the get go, like all comics to all comics that I was reading like Raina Tello, Mega and like all those people.

00;26;34;23 - 00;26;56;04

Arantza Peña Popo

But at least like that was kind of like my beginning into comics, like Jillian Tamaki and, and very broad school. And then Emily Carol just kind of like a lot more kind of like maybe like mainstream like in the comics. So we had kind of dynamic there, but I don't know a lot of also just like I had this role where like I only really read like comics by women.

00;26;56;04 - 00;27;07;21

Arantza Peña Popo

I didn't, I was never interested in like comics by men besides, like, I think they were an American born Chinese. That was nice. But other than that, oh, a mouse button that it was like very much like this, like woman comics.

00;27;08;03 - 00;27;22;08

Fabiola Lara

I know you make a lot of autobiographical comics and zines, and you have a solo show that just opened. Can you tell me about how it was like kicking that off, working on that? Basically, I want to know everything about it.

00;27;22;18 - 00;27;45;08

Arantza Peña Popo

I remember around like I think August because I was like the in the Bay because I was just sitting with a friend like in the bay, and I really wanted to like bend more like this, like some war zones in comics because I'd never like done in person, like selling. I wanted to do like more in-person selling because I was just like in a pandemic, like selling on Etsy kind of, you know, doing that kind of very like kind of detached bending.

00;27;45;08 - 00;28;04;10

Arantza Peña Popo

And so I reached out to this place called Junior High, and it's in like Glendale, California, if you don't know where that is, it's like right near Griffith Park. So like kind of North L.A. And I was reaching, I was like, oh, can I, like sell here? And then like fail or love, the one she's the woman who, like LA created and like owns junior high.

00;28;04;16 - 00;28;11;24

Arantza Peña Popo

And she was like, oh, I really like your artwork. And it's just like when I saw the exhibition, I was like, okay, yeah. I still say.

00;28;11;27 - 00;28;32;11

Fabiola Lara

I know, say for a couple of years now because I don't even know how long I've known Fehr this point since she opened junior high. She reopened it during the pandemic I'm so glad that you just, like, put yourself out there. That's, like, such a big part of it, right? Like, and then she saw that, like, potential, and I was, like, social serendipity.

00;28;32;12 - 00;28;34;06

Fabiola Lara

So what kind of work to do create for the show?

00;28;34;09 - 00;29;12;21

Arantza Peña Popo

So the show is called The World is Looking for You. And essentially it's kind of just kind of navigating like the night time and what the nine time means to me. Three different comments. I only displayed two because one of them just seem kind of out of place, but practically three different comics and kind of exploring how like we can find refuge in the nighttime, but also kind of how like just like our dynamics as like people, whether it'd be like our relationships or I don't know how we interact with other people, how we negotiate a sense of self, how we perform, like how all of that is like negotiated very differently in the nighttime than

00;29;12;22 - 00;29;31;22

Arantza Peña Popo

is during the daytime. Because I feel like we're a lot more vulnerable, a lot more sensitive, a lot more introspective. I'm a lot, a lot more kind of like, I don't know, we live life a bit more precariously as, you know, like in the nighttime. So it's kind of to comics on that, explore that. There's two pieces to scenes practically.

00;29;31;22 - 00;29;50;26

Arantza Peña Popo

It was what we wanted to do because I wanted to make scenes, but also with like a gallery setting. You want it, you don't have to get this didn't don't want like books to be there then like people having to like touch them and then like open them and then it'd be really weird. So we decided to like kind of make like, like a zine but kind of like with the pages spread out some of the layouts spread out.

00;29;50;26 - 00;30;13;01

Arantza Peña Popo

And so there's two scenes and one of them is a scene I made earlier. 20, 21 like I think January, February and it's called See You on a Dark Night. And that one is just about kind of following me, like walking home alone at night and then kind of like talking about I guess, like that experience of walking home alone at night.

00;30;13;02 - 00;30;32;18

Arantza Peña Popo

So she like, I was like a woman or like someone identifying a person like, you know, there's like a weird system because I'm just like, honestly, since I'm like mentally ill, it's like, I don't like it's weird. Tegan Poor where I'm like, there's like a lot of, like, refuge, like, walking alone in the night time, even though I know it's like super dangerous.

00;30;32;18 - 00;30;47;06

Arantza Peña Popo

Like, it's kind of like a lot of, like, power being how they're like, if, like, if I make it back home alive and I'm like, oh, my gosh. Like, I one like, you know, like, if they didn't catch me, like, that's for another time. But, like, you know, like, no one kidnaped me, like, no. And like, you know, assault if you.

00;30;47;06 - 00;30;54;11

Fabiola Lara

Succeeded, right? You've succeeded in this modest task that is actually really high stakes for women, I guess.

00;30;54;18 - 00;31;16;12

Arantza Peña Popo

Exactly. And so it's kind of like talking about that when combined with like also dissociation, kind of like kind of also alters that because like, you know, if you're like already kind of detached from your body, then it's kind of easy then to like have your body then and like more kind of dangerous situations, you're just like, oh, I, I don't know, like, if that happened to me or, you know, this like, no, kind of like connection to that.

00;31;16;12 - 00;31;27;28

Arantza Peña Popo

So that's kind of like what that comic is about. The title was inspired by the song Oblivion by Grimes all right.

00;31;27;29 - 00;31;29;03

Fabiola Lara

What's the other one about?

00;31;29;16 - 00;31;35;00

Arantza Peña Popo

You know, everyone is a lot more verbose and complex. That one's like a good 48 pages.

00;31;35;09 - 00;31;38;22

Fabiola Lara

Wow. So you can give us a high level then.

00;31;40;18 - 00;31;46;03

Arantza Peña Popo

And so that one is called If my body keeps a score, does that mean I'm winning?

00;31;46;12 - 00;31;53;21

Fabiola Lara

And you worked a lot using RESO for these comics. Tell me why you liked. Because I can tell that you love RESO.

00;31;53;22 - 00;32;15;20

Arantza Peña Popo

I think I love RESO. And this is also Cynthia Navarro, who she helped me like, print and like she runs Tiny Splendor, which is a print shop. I like Internet here, like Los Angeles. She says like, oh, it's like this, like, really nice, like mixture of digital and analog. And I think it's the same, like, digital artwork can seem really flat at times.

00;32;15;20 - 00;32;34;29

Arantza Peña Popo

And like kind of non textured and just like very kind of robotic. But I think like then we put it through a research graph. The machine itself kind of like captures those like imperfections of like just kind of like the human hand. Like the machine can like miss register or like adds too much ink and one spot. And it's also just a very kind of textural machine.

00;32;34;29 - 00;32;46;19

Arantza Peña Popo

And so it kind of like helps translate the digital into like the analog because it is like so like quirky and kind of stupid, honestly, because that's how humans are themselves so it kind of replicates that.

00;32;47;02 - 00;33;07;07

Fabiola Lara

I love Risa for that same reason. It adds like you can make something digitally and then it comes to life with the riso in a way that I feel like no other print medium maybe screen printing, but still screen printing can also be very smooth and like, I know, crisp in a way that I feel like Riso naturally just can't which is like the essence of it.

00;33;07;25 - 00;33;21;16

Fabiola Lara

I love it. I love that you work so much in Riso. Okay, so I wish I could go see your show, but I can't because it's in L.A.. So how can we get a sense of the show remotely? Is it possible there is?

00;33;21;16 - 00;33;34;17

Arantza Peña Popo

So at least like, I need to do a better job at, like, putting more pictures because like, I, I was printing so much because I was printing three days before the Xs is is now.

00;33;34;17 - 00;33;54;19

Fabiola Lara

I feel you. I'm sure the pictures will come once you're in a better place. You're also in school, which is something that I also wanted to talk to you about. But because we're on this on the Xena topic I saw you share recently about this show, actually, that you are a bit embarrassed about being a comic artist because it seemed juvenile or not as quote sophisticated as fine art.

00;33;54;29 - 00;33;58;04

Fabiola Lara

Can you elaborate on that feeling where you're at with that?

00;33;58;11 - 00;34;19;13

Arantza Peña Popo

I grew up like with like the fine art sentiment. You know, I read like very esoteric art books like from the bookstore and like, you know, I knew all about like, you know, Tracey Emin and, you know, like the new young artists of Britain and all that, but like, very kind of just like contemporary, like abstract works, which is kind of like my thing, you know, these, like, comments like, you know, words as well.

00;34;19;14 - 00;34;45;02

Arantza Peña Popo

And so because I grew up with, like, fine art, I think this vocabulary and just like kind of atmosphere then like getting into comics, it's like comics in themselves. Like, I don't know when you like say you're like a cartoonist so you make cartoons. It's like there's like a part of myself where I'm like when I have to say that to people and I feel like I don't I'm scared that they think, like, I'm just, like, doing like, oh, I'm just like they're like little doodles.

00;34;45;02 - 00;34;45;13

Arantza Peña Popo

I like.

00;34;46;04 - 00;34;48;25

Fabiola Lara

I like it's easy to dismiss exactly.

00;34;48;25 - 00;35;17;09

Arantza Peña Popo

Like, so it's easy to dismiss. And something that's like for kids or something that, like, has like no kind of like weight to it. And so see, like, I'm right now, I'm like in an art class, like a printmaking class, and I think it's like really weird to like, I don't know, because I feel like also when you're like making like cartoons and then like, you're like, then like putting that next to like this like one of large, like, abstract piece or something, you know, that's like a bit more kind of like conceptual.

00;35;17;18 - 00;35;43;02

Arantza Peña Popo

It can kind of seem like, I don't know, like you're making something that's a bit more kind of like unsophisticated or like, not as complex because like, I think one part of it too is because like because cartoons, they're very representational and they're very kind of like, can easily kind of like straightforwardly encapsulate something versus in like something as abstract or like conceptual is like a bit more like, you know, you kind of have like ruminate over like how it relates to your own experiences.

00;35;43;02 - 00;35;57;21

Arantza Peña Popo

And I think like that kind of straightforward nature of comics made me feel insecure because I was like, oh my God, this is my stuff. Like, not complex you know? I just like making stuff with like a bunch of like pink and like bubbles and petals and.

00;35;58;14 - 00;36;25;19

Fabiola Lara

Yeah, because then if you start making comics that have those like, quote, more feminine topics or whatever, it even feels like even worse, like even more unsophisticated than if you were doing like Marvel Comics or something, which is so bizarre, like so messed up. Do you feel like you're struggling with that specifically because you're in college? What are you going to school for, by the way?

00;36;25;28 - 00;36;27;10

Arantza Peña Popo

I went to school for journalism.

00;36;27;22 - 00;36;42;22

Fabiola Lara

Okay. But you're taking this art class. Yeah, I feel like sometimes in art classes in school, what's, like, praised is like more conceptual fine art. And so do you feel that in any way, or am I just throwing that out there?

00;36;43;16 - 00;37;08;15

Arantza Peña Popo

No, I think I think so. And understand to you, because, you know, I understand why. Because abstract art and like conceptual art, like, you know, it keeps you like thinking. But I think like or maybe it's like also something I only like internalized kind of dislike because when I think also about like like what is art like? It's very much like, you know, like white men have done for like the past, like, you know, like hundreds of years.

00;37;08;15 - 00;37;32;10

Arantza Peña Popo

And so then kind of like introducing these very kind of like simplistic like shapes and like comics, I feel like. So but I remember like when I was like working on that exhibition and I'm really talking with my friend and being like, I don't know, every time I'm like working on like this exhibition, like thinking about stuff, like, I always thought of this, like, white male professor, like a turtleneck just like looking at my work and being like, this is so derivative.

00;37;32;10 - 00;38;03;29

Arantza Peña Popo

Like, this is like, what is it? It's like this kind of like criticizing it and I don't it was weird that I kept, like, saying my art work through that lens of like a very kind of, like, elite and academic and kind of white gaze and I think that was kind of like, it was like calming me. But then I think what help kind of stuff that was that I thought about like, like the way I perceive comics because like, when I think about comics, whether it's like Asian Terminal or even Garfield, like, I still see complexity in, like, all their simplicity.

00;38;03;29 - 00;38;13;17

Arantza Peña Popo

Like, I still see, like, I still see that kind of nuance. And I think, like, as it did my lens of like, okay, like, I don't give a fuck about like white male professors because like, those are like, not the.

00;38;13;18 - 00;38;15;22

Fabiola Lara

Yeah, like, why am I placing importance on them?

00;38;15;26 - 00;38;32;01

Arantza Peña Popo

Exactly. Yeah. Like, those white male professors aren't the ones that, like, taught me, like, the people who were like, my professors were like, you know, like, really intimate in their broad school. And, you know, a gentleman on like random indie comic artists from like, I don't know, like New York, like, you know, just like.

00;38;32;07 - 00;38;53;12

Fabiola Lara

Like, that's how you should be tailoring your work to you, right? Like, it's, they're going to come in and, and look at your stuff. They would love it. What a relief that you've gotten yourself to that place. I'm sure that it will ebb and flow and your questionnaire and request and it as time goes on, as everyone does, as art is always questioning like the value of what they're putting out into the world.

00;38;53;24 - 00;39;11;00

Fabiola Lara

But I know you make and that exhibition was a lot about bio comics and stuff. So do you ever feel weird about making out of bio zines and comics and oversharing about your life? Like how do you navigate the introspection that auto bio zines require?

00;39;11;03 - 00;39;44;02

Arantza Peña Popo

It's a weird navigation, for example. Also just feel like auto bio comics are kind of like a CLI. I don't know. I've heard like they're like a cliché because like, you know, that's also how they kind of got pushed into the mainstream. Like, you know, like Funhouse Mouse, Persepolis, but I think in terms of like I started out making all the bio comics because it's like easier because I was like, okay, like if I'm trying to make like a fiction comic and I was like, think of like this whole world and like worldbuilding and, you know, like kind of doing like all these like extra subs versus like with all the bio comments, like, the experiences

00;39;44;02 - 00;40;02;13

Arantza Peña Popo

are already there. It's sort of like you know, kind of edit them and like cut them in like, you know, kind of like pick out the parts I like. And so at least, like, in terms of oversharing, I just like, I was a bit scared. Like, there's like, I remember like very vividly just like being scared. Like, I would like make like really like long elaborate comments and those like not showing them for months.

00;40;02;14 - 00;40;26;15

Arantza Peña Popo

I was just like I was really scared of like what people are going to think or like say or do. But then I think like I saw like earnestness in other people's auto bio comics. One example that stands out to me is like Lauren Lioness. I think that's her name. She's like an illustrator. Her stuff was like very, like professional and like, you know, very much like stuff that can ruin your personal relationships.

00;40;26;28 - 00;40;27;10

Arantza Peña Popo

Yeah.

00;40;27;10 - 00;40;43;11

Fabiola Lara

That's like an really tricky part of auto bio comics. Like, like, there's a lot of stories I would love to tell, but that I'm just like, Wait a minute. Not only am I exposing myself, which like I have autonomy over, but then I'm exposing other people. So like, yeah, where are you at with that? How do you make those cutthroat decisions?

00;40;43;18 - 00;41;04;01

Arantza Peña Popo

Yeah, because I even actually made a comic about that, like For The Stranger, Seattle, I made a comic about like that kind of dilemma of like, oh my gosh. Like, because at first my comics were like, first thing they were, they're made in the pandemic from that kind of isolation. And also, like, a lot of them were just about like my own personal experiences.

00;41;04;01 - 00;41;22;07

Arantza Peña Popo

And usually those times I was like alone. So whether it was like being like catcalled or like, you know, like a running to, like, the Beverly Hills, like library because I was like super depressed all of them were like in that kind of isolation. But then like having to be here back in college and like interacting and like there's so many times I'm like, oh my gosh.

00;41;22;07 - 00;41;44;19

Arantza Peña Popo

Like, I want to, like, write about this. I want to like a survey about this. And like, I think one way I navigate it, it was like, for example, like, I made this like one gene called Cherry Colored Fort, which is just like a play on the cocktail twin song Cherry Colored Funk. And it was just like this, like kind of miscellaneous, like auto bio kind of comics, like I kind of compiled over the summer.

00;41;44;28 - 00;42;05;16

Arantza Peña Popo

And I kind of had a rule for myself where I was like, no one can read it to strangers. And so I was just like selling it to strangers or like just like selling it to like random zine libraries and Greece and and I think like that there's a lot of freedom in that because then I can, like, speak freely as I wanted to.

00;42;05;16 - 00;42;24;14

Arantza Peña Popo

But then like first thing now I just totally forgot about that rule. And people I know are reading books as I speak and so I don't know I don't know if I'll never get it yet, but I'm just like, there's like so like there's like so, so much like stuff and I'm like, I think I want to do that again.

00;42;24;14 - 00;42;39;13

Arantza Peña Popo

Especially, like, in terms of like relationships, like friendships, like, because like so many like, like juicy stuff. Like one of my ex is like got engaged. I was like I need to write about, I need to like it because it's like, like, even like HBO's. Yeah.

00;42;41;10 - 00;42;42;18

Fabiola Lara

It's like I've made a.

00;42;42;28 - 00;42;43;24

Arantza Peña Popo

I made a, I.

00;42;43;24 - 00;43;03;05

Fabiola Lara

Actually made a comic exposing and x it was, it was a huge success in my eyes. Yeah. It seems like from what I can tell, it's an ongoing process navigating how much to share, how much to hold back. I know a lot of people use like animals instead of people to kind of like hide some of the identifying characteristics.

00;43;04;05 - 00;43;22;11

Fabiola Lara

But yeah, I think it's, it's complicated how much you can, how much of it is your story to tell and how much of it is somebody else's is always tricky. But I feel like people in your life who know you're a cartoonist accept a level of, you know, like, right? Like in order to be my friend, you accept that I may or may not write about you, right?

00;43;22;11 - 00;43;26;13

Fabiola Lara

Is that. Do you feel that, like there is some sense of that, right? Like.

00;43;26;22 - 00;43;38;00

Arantza Peña Popo

I think so, yeah. Like, I haven't written a lot of like comments about my friends, but I think they I feel like they, they know like everything that happens here is free rein. It's like that.

00;43;38;20 - 00;43;40;18

Fabiola Lara

It's like everything in the record.

00;43;40;23 - 00;43;41;21

Arantza Peña Popo

Exactly.

00;43;43;00 - 00;44;05;28

Fabiola Lara

I well, I love that. Okay. I know that you've won awards. You have made comics for The New Yorker. All of these things are like huge accomplishments, especially for someone who's still in school and still kind of developing that voice and body of work. But I saw that in 2019. You won the doodle for Google Competition and you were even on The Tonight Show to talk about it.

00;44;06;13 - 00;44;12;28

Fabiola Lara

Can you tell me about the day the drawing and what that experience was like for you as a young artist?

00;44;13;02 - 00;44;34;27

Arantza Peña Popo

So the drawing I made to the doodle for Google, because the prompt was, I believe when I grew up, I want to blank. And so the drawing I made like the day it was due and I stole some art supplies from my art class and I just cranked it out and it's practically like so practically it's like the word school.

00;44;34;27 - 00;44;56;25

Arantza Peña Popo

But then within like one of the O's, it's like a picture. So practically there's like a picture in my house that I actually drew in the actual doodle for Google thing where it's like my mother is holding me or actually it's my sister. Oh, but I say it's me. And then like you saw.

00;44;56;25 - 00;44;58;04

Fabiola Lara

That narrative right out from.

00;44;58;04 - 00;44;59;27

Arantza Peña Popo

Under her reclaimed.

00;45;03;04 - 00;45;10;02

Fabiola Lara

I love that. That is the sister thing to do. All right, so there's a painting in your house of your mom holding your sister, but it's you.

00;45;10;19 - 00;45;26;27

Arantza Peña Popo

Yeah, and then then I draw below that like me, like holding my mother more like a kind of, like, art show. Like, just kind of like grabbing her shoulders. And it's kind of like a practically the meaning was, oh, like, when I grow up, I hope to take care of my mom the way, like, she took care of me.

00;45;27;09 - 00;45;36;08

Arantza Peña Popo

And so, yeah, it kind of divulge a very much like when because I didn't think anything of it, you know? But then, like, all of a sudden, like, you know, like.

00;45;36;20 - 00;45;47;24

Fabiola Lara

Like, like, out of, out of I saw 200,000 people who applied your little like drawing that you made. They gave no importance to just like bam one. How did that feel?

00;45;48;07 - 00;46;04;23

Arantza Peña Popo

It was really crazy because also at that point like it was a really weird dynamic because like senior year, like I was like super depressed and also it was just like I towards like the second half of my senior year I wasn't making any art. Like I was like art block. Like I was just like, I don't want to make any art.

00;46;04;23 - 00;46;23;11

Arantza Peña Popo

I have like a very like I just didn't have a good relationship with art at the time. And so it was weird, like being like this time of like our block, but then like also then having to like talk about my art and then also feeling the same feelings with like comics like making this like very simplistic kind of cartoonist, like, you know, drawing.

00;46;23;17 - 00;46;45;17

Arantza Peña Popo

But then I think like, so I think like during that time, it's like hard for me to like real life, like the kind of like important event. And I think like it did kind of like affect me in terms of just like I wasn't shy about it because I'm like a very I don't know if it was just like very like I think I was a tattoo myself from it a bit, but not like in retrospect, like, I think like, wow, like, that's really cool.

00;46;46;07 - 00;47;09;20

Fabiola Lara

I got amazing. It's amazing. It's a very competitive competition. And I also think like, the fact that it was so like you felt like it was like just any old thing, but even like, you have a really good way of capturing kind of the essence of the of what you were trying to say. So simply and that's like something that's really hard for people to do and for you to just like it's so authentic to you, right?

00;47;09;20 - 00;47;12;09

Fabiola Lara

Like that kind of storytelling. That's crazy.

00;47;12;26 - 00;47;14;04

Arantza Peña Popo

It's good and amazing.

00;47;14;24 - 00;47;20;05

Fabiola Lara

And I saw like, you won a scholarship for it and everything, and now you're at school where are you at?

00;47;20;20 - 00;47;35;00

Arantza Peña Popo

So I go to the University of Southern California here in Los Angeles, and I majored in journalism. I'm a journalism major which surprises people because they're like, oh, my gosh, like, you know, like do art or journalism major.

00;47;35;01 - 00;47;38;19

Fabiola Lara

But there's a lot of storytelling within journalism, so I can totally see the connection.

00;47;38;22 - 00;47;40;15

Arantza Peña Popo

Yeah, exactly. There's like very much.

00;47;40;16 - 00;47;53;27

Fabiola Lara

I feel like you'll definitely be able to use those skills towards your your comics and all of that is that's something you still want to do moving forward. Like, as I know that you're a working artist right now, do you see yourself doing that or do you want to pivot down the line.

00;47;54;18 - 00;48;27;07

Arantza Peña Popo

Like right now? Because after the exhibition, I'm like, Okay, I'm on my journalism bag. Like, elite journalism right now. But I would like to, I guess, delve into comic journalism. I did make like this like really cool for one of my classes like my visual journalism class. I made this comic called Rising from the Underground, and that was like a really kind of cool exercise and like what comics journalism could be because it was very like experimental because I was interviewing this like very like experimental performance artist in Georgia.

00;48;27;08 - 00;48;43;12

Arantza Peña Popo

And so I think, like, I would love to expand on that and like do more like comic journalism stories about that. I feel like it's still like the it's still like a medium that's like so kind of like fleshing itself out in terms of just like the greater like journalism world. But I think like.

00;48;43;12 - 00;49;03;17

Fabiola Lara

I think it's the perfect time for it just because comics are I feel like finally a little bit more valued now, especially like in publishing, like graphic novels or having like a resurgence. And you're already an amazing cartoonist and now you're going to like build out your journalism background and feel like you're shaping yourself up for that. And it's going to all come together.

00;49;03;17 - 00;49;20;16

Fabiola Lara

Like maybe right now it seems like kind of hard to see how it all connects, but I feel like the minute that you're ready for it, it's all going to come together and be like next level in a way that you probably can't even foresee in this moment because there's not that like you're saying not that many good examples of it right now out in the world.

00;49;20;27 - 00;49;29;24

Arantza Peña Popo

And I feel like there's like places like the NIB and also like artists like Joe Sacco and like Sara Murch we're kind of like setting that foundation. So.

00;49;30;07 - 00;49;44;05

Fabiola Lara

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Like, I can see you definitely stepping into that world. Last question now, just wrapping up, how can listeners support your work if they're like really interested in comics and all of that? How can they support you and everything that you're up to.

00;49;44;13 - 00;49;54;27

Arantza Peña Popo

So you can follow me? Usually I'm posting stuff on my Instagram and it's at this for a R A and this for P and A and this perfect.

00;49;55;00 - 00;50;13;28

Fabiola Lara

I leave all those links in the show notes for people to check out your Instagram, your exhibition. Maybe that link to the Zen if it's ready by then, I'll leave all of her links below. So just open them up. No matter what you're listening on, you can open up the show notes and click on everything. All right. And on site.

00;50;14;05 - 00;50;34;07

Fabiola Lara

Thank you so much for your time. I value it immensely. I know you're a busy college student, working artist, comic professionals. So I really, really appreciate like your openness with me. And talking about all of this. To be honest, I have like a million more questions that we're going to have to do, like part two, maybe season two or something like that.

00;50;37;27 - 00;51;00;12

Fabiola Lara

All right, everyone. That was my amazing conversation with L.A. based Colombian illustrator and cartoonist Aran, Sabina Bubble. Please check out her work over on her Instagram. I'll leave her links in the show notes below, which you can open right in your podcast app. And I've said this a million times, but if you want more from me, I share videos on my YouTube channel every other week.

00;51;00;12 - 00;51;25;27

Fabiola Lara

Between podcast episodes, you can find my channel linked below or just search for at Savio Beta Drawers and the YouTube app. Finally, like always, if there's a lot of next visual artists, this includes designers, photographers, 3D artists, like any visual medium based in the U.S. that you think I should speak to on the show, go ahead and nominate them by going through drawers in Spanish dot com slash nominees.

00;51;26;09 - 00;51;37;05

Fabiola Lara

If you enjoyed this episode, remember to hit subscribe so you don't miss the next episode of Draws in Spanish. Thank you and I'll see you in two weeks. Goodbye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Ciao